OPINION:
More than anything, it was “The Wall” that got President Trump elected four years ago.
Mr. Trump’s willingness to tackle illegal immigration earned him unswerving devotion from voters, including Hispanics who live in the United States legally.
It also brought Mr. Trump unstinting vitriol from anti-American leftists and corporate interests who organize and bankroll the Democrat Party and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s campaign for president.
Four years ago, the battle cry for Mr. Trump was “Build The Wall!”
Today, the battle cry from Democrats and their monied interests is: “Mr. Biden, tear down that wall!”
In his first term, Mr. Trump built roughly 400 miles of his wall. He would have built much more if not for Democrats in Congress and federal court judges who conspired at every turn to thwart his effort to simply enforce our borders.
Interestingly, Mr. Trump’s 400-mile wall is a little more than half of what Congress approved of building back in 2006. Among those in the United States Senate who voted to build a 700-mile barrier along the border was one Sen. Joseph R. Biden of Delaware.
Long gone is that Joe Biden.
Today, he is hostage to a ragtag revolution of anti-American socialists and cop-hating anarchists who have demands. None is clearer or more vital to their twisted agenda than tearing down Mr. Trump’s wall, as well as undoing everything Mr. Trump accomplished in his first term to bring sanity to the southern border.
Already, Mr. Biden has promised to halt all deportations, a naked sop to criminal aliens in this country who terrorize their own neighborhoods. Of the more than 100,000 illegals deported every year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimate that 80% to 90% of those deported have criminal records, including convictions for murder.
And, yes, even rape.
No wonder so many American Hispanics love Mr. Trump.
Also, Mr. Biden aims to restore — and possibly expand — the so-called “DREAMers” program that Mr. Trump halted. At a minimum, the constitutionally-suspect program provides amnesty to 800,000 illegals currently in the United States.
The next largest group of noncitizens Joe Biden is expected to bail out are the more than 300,000 foreigners who enjoy so-called “Temporary Protected Status” in the U.S. These people were granted such status from places like Haiti and Honduras and Liberia after those countries suffered natural disasters, diseases or civil wars.
The status, however, is not so “temporary” for those who fled the El Salvador earthquakes — back in 2001.
After two decades, Mr. Trump moved to begin terminating their status but has been stymied in the courts.
Some of Mr. Trump’s most sterling accomplishments at the border were his policies that disincentivized illegals from attempting to cross in the first place, the wall being chief among them. Another has been his policy requiring those seeking entry to “remain in Mexico” while awaiting any court determinations.
After that, things could get even crazier on the border if Democrats make good on promises to provide Obamacare and other welfare programs to illegals or abolish ICE.
Also, many in the party have made no secret of their desire to dramatically expand America’s refugee program.
Consider what Mr. Biden and former President Barack Obama did back in 2014. They provided protected status to those fleeing Ebola outbreaks in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
How long will it be before angry anti-American leftists start demanding that such status be granted to “refugees” fleeing COVID-19? From anywhere in the world?
• Charles Hurt is opinion editor of The Washington Times. He can be reached at churt@washingtontimes.com or @charleshurt on Twitter.
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